City sees third homicide of 2012

The Elm City’s homicide count for 2012 rose to three Friday evening, after a man was shot dead in the Hill neighborhood.

New Haven Police Department officers responded at 8:25 p.m. to a report of gunfire on Frank Street near West Street, where they found Nathan Richardson, 29, with a gunshot wound, according to department spokesman David Hartman. Paramedics took Richardson to Yale-New Haven Hospital and he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Latif Richardson, the victim’s father, told officers that he and his son had been walking along Frank Street toward Washington Avenue when they heard gunfire, adding that the two of them started running when Nathan collapsed to the ground, Hartman said.

A stretch of Frank Street between West Street and Washington Avenue has been cordoned off and the NHPD’s Major Crimes Unit has launched an investigation. As of Friday evening, no suspects had been identified, Hartman said.

The homicide is the city’s third of the year, after two men were killed within a three-day period in March. By this time last year, the city had seen 13 homicides, en route to a 20-year high 34 murders.